[07/28/05 - 12:00 AM]FOX Launches Into a Whole New Reality of Unscripted Programming with "Xquest"

[via press release from FOX]

FOX LAUNCHES INTO A WHOLE NEW REALITY OF UNSCRIPTED PROGRAMMING WITH "XQUEST"

Groundbreaking New Competition Series From Imagine Entertainment ("24," "Apollo 13") and the Executive Producer of Best-Selling Video Game "Halo" Affords a Unique Opportunity to Experience Life in Space

FOX goes beyond the fourth wall, into the fourth dimension, with the new adventure competition series "XQUEST" (working title), from Imagine Entertainment's Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and David Nevins; Spectrum MediaWorks' Jim Banister and Alexander Seropian, executive producer of the innovative, best-selling video game "Halo"; and Emmy Award-winning producers Brady Connell and Jim Jusko of Base Camp Films. The groundbreaking series combines scripted, unscripted and gaming genres to create a revolutionary new program.

Over multiple episodes, two teams of contestants will be pushed past their physical skills, mental acuity, emotional boundaries and the limits of their imaginations as they leave behind the world as we know it. They will literally enter a new realm as they live and work aboard state-of-the-art "biocrafts," which will provide the experience of space travel. Over the course of a month, the contestants' perceptions will become reality as they are immersed in every sensorial way possible � sights, sounds, motion and environmental on a 24/7 and 360-degree basis � to take them on a fantastic outer-space mission never before experienced.

XQUEST combines high-tech computer graphics, physical effects and game technologies to allow contestants to experience space travel and compete in challenges over an extended period of time. The ambitious project will require as much as a year of pre-production to create the necessary biocrafts, facilities and programs. The biocrafts' interiors are designed with technologically advanced functionality complete with living quarters, bathrooms and cooking facilities. The interiors are also rigged with multiple 24-hour cameras and microphones. The contestants will never come into contact with camera crews. In fact, with the exception of limited communication with Mission Control, they will be completely cut off from planet Earth.

While immersed in this environment, the teams will compete on missions, which will take their respective biocrafts to intergalactic locales. Periodically, the teams will be forced to jettison a crew member, until � at the end of a month of complete immersion � a winner returns to Earth.

XQUEST is created by Jim Banister and Alexander Seropian of Spectrum MediaWorks, who will also serve as executive producers. Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and David Nevins of Imagine Entertainment and Brady Connell and Jim Jusko of Base Camp Films are executive producers.